iPhone users late for work

A fault with the Apple iPhone handset has led to many people oversleeping today and yesterday. Daylight Saving Time ended automatically on iPhones, but the alarm settings were not altered, resulting in people across Europe being an hour late for work.

Some iPhones are locked in DST mode, which means any recurring, pre-set or scheduled alarms have actually been activated at the wrong time. According to Slashgear.com, "the issue seems to be an iOS 4 one, which means anybody still running iOS 3.x should have no problems getting up on time".

Social networks Twitter and Facebook are currently seeing an outpouring of annoyance, complaints and mild amusement. However, it has yet to emerge how many people were actually late for work because of the bug, as some handset owners may have already noticed the problem, whilst anyone who sets daily alarms would not be affected.

Apple already aware

This problem was first noticed when DST began in Australia at the beginning of October, and alarms went off an hour early. Apple acknowledged the problem, and apparently told ZDNet Australia: "We're aware of this issue and already developed a fix which will be available to customers in an upcoming software update". No such update has been made available yet, however, and the reversal of the problem for the northern hemisphere could be considered more serious. Clocks in North America are due to go back on November 7th.

The Register is one of many to propose a solution for iPhone users affected by the problem. In Time/Date, DST must be manually turned off, then all recurring alarms need to be deleted and reset. The reverse will apply when DST begins again in March 2011; unless, of course, the software update is rolled out in the near future.